News & Events

Welcome Mr Patrick Harmer, College Principal

Already communicated to community this week, it is a pleasure to add my welcome to Mr Patrick Harmer, St Paul’s College Principal from 2025. While Mr Chris Woolley, CEO of EREA Colleges Ltd, has provided the most representative summary of Patrick’s appointment in his letter to our community (available here) I add the excitement shared by College leadership and staff for Patrick’s appointment.

Upon his return from Long Service Leave in August, Mr Paul Belton will undertake a thorough handover with Mr Harmer who will have opportunities to be onsite on occasions this year, as he familiarises himself with our community.

Congratulations and welcome to Mr Patrick Harmer. Welcome to St Paul’s College!

Josh Foulis - Acting Principal

Leadership Charter of St Paul’s College

Synonymous with our community, Our Common Ground (click HERE to open) is a document driving personal responsibility to our college values and naming the expectations shared by all members of our community.

Adding depth to our Common Ground, all staff with a position of leadership (teaching and non-teaching) have collaborated and created the St Paul’s College Leadership Charter. This Charter identifies what our community can expect from leaders and leadership teams alike, providing clarity and accountability via this public-facing document.

In January of this year, all leaders on college staff engaged with a Leadership Day at the Grange Surf Life Saving Club, Outlining requirements and goals for the year was followed by professional learning around effective teams. The final component of the day started a six month journey in collaboratively developing this Leadership Charter, which is proudly launched to our staff and community this week.

Leadership development and efficacy is a pivotal component of the college’s strategic plan and this Leadership Charter provides clarity and accountability for the benefit of our leaders and community.

It is with mixed emotions of gratitude, celebration and sadness that I advise our community that our longest serving staff member has advised that he will retire at the end of 2024.

Mr Peter Judd is known throughout St Paul’s College as a diligent teacher in Health and Physical Education, as well as Mathematics, and having been the College’s Sport and Co-curricular Coordinator for many years. After 44 years serving as a Teacher at St Paul’s, at the end of 2024 our College will farewell and thank Mr Peter Judd and wish him well into retirement.
 

St Paul’s College is proud to launch our inaugural Indigenous round cocurricular uniforms. These unique guernseys, designed by our First Nations students, will be proudly worn over the next two rounds in AFL, Soccer, Basketball, and Netball.

Our First Nations students have been dedicated to developing these designs throughout the past semester. Students from both Primary and Secondary schools gathered to explore examples of guernseys and Aboriginal Art symbols, which were sourced by Brandon Jackson-Martin, our First Nations Education Support Officer. They carefully selected symbols that resonated with their personal experiences and the spirit of the College, incorporating these elements into their designs.

The resulting artwork tells the story:

“Our community sits under the stars that shine over Kaurna land. As a tight-knit community, we bond together at the meeting place. Each of us is unique, bringing our own shining light, having come a long way to be here. The river represents Dry Creek, with each student represented by their own unique symbol, showcasing their belonging and connection to the St Paul’s community.”

This incredible design, which truly reflects the voices of our students, would not have been possible without the contributions of Nick Gillard, Brandon Jackson-Martin, Claudia Lamberto, Alexandra Harrison, Stephanie Singh, the St Paul’s RAP committee, and, of course, our talented students.

“This initiative displays our commitment to promoting reconciliation at St Paul’s College, fostering a deeper understanding and respect for First Nations cultures among our entire school community,” said Campbell Burton, First Nations Key Teacher. “I look forward to seeing the guernseys being worn with pride during future co-curricular rounds.”

Families and School – on the same journey for success

A highlight of the past fortnight has been Learning Conversations that involved families and young people discussing learning, school experience and wellbeing.

While perhaps obvious, wherever families positively engage school community and staff, their child(ren) is more likely to experience connection to the school community, trust and relationship with teachers, and success (whatever that looks like for each student). For this reason, St Paul’s College expresses heartfelt thanks to families who booked and attended Learning Conversations to begin Term 2.

As a staff of St Paul’s College, we pride ourselves on proactive communication with families, especially wherever there have been successes or challenges. Of course, these conversations are centered on the child and student, meaning they are deeply important and often emotional conversations.

As we all know and appreciate, healthy conversations remain respectful and focused on the care that family and school have for the young person. There are opportunities to respectfully raise concerns and it is important that families and staff can talk freely with one another; however, the college continues to seek the trust and confidence of families that we always act in the best interest of all young people.

Above all, St Paul’s continues to prioritise partnership with families and seeks families to continue trusting that all decisions are made in the best interest of you and your child(ren).

Catholic School Parents Australia (CSPA) offer an array of information and resources for families around supporting their young people and the school, noting that families can and must support both parties, not one or the other.

As one body of work completed by CSPA, you may also find interest in the information at Gearing Up for Parent Engagement in Student Learning. Here, you can find resources for connecting with schools and teachers, as well as young people, as they navigate Primary or Secondary education.

From the perspective of St Paul’s College, there are some crucial point we encourage for all families:

Do not hesitate to communicate: sometimes a ‘wait and see’ approach to your child’s concern may seem appropriate – it isn’t! Please communicate early so that any concerns do not compound.
Phone and in-person is most effective: while it is sometimes appropriate to use email or SEQTA, emotion can often be confused in these modes of communication, making phone calls and in-person conversations most effective.
School staff are asked to communicate proactively and often: A college directive to staff is for them to communicate with families often, especially where there are challenges or concerns. Understanding that families are busy, we commit to this communication.
Staff don’t make things up: great work and effort goes into supporting students through moments of challenge, perhaps poor decisions, and moments of success. Like anybody, we make mistakes; however, we do ask for implicit trust from families in the first instance, whereby staff and families are the adults best equipped to support young people through challenge.

Thanks again for the ongoing connection of families with our college and its staff; may this continue as we strive to support our young people.

Celebrating Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice

Well underway for Term 2, we acknowledge the recent Feast Day of Blessed Edmund Rice that is celebrated globally each year on 5 May. At St Paul’s College, we paused usual learning schedules last Friday 3 May to celebrate the founder of the Christian Brothers who established St Paul’s College 65 years ago.

With thanks to many staff who organised the day of celebration, especially our Catholic Identity Team, students were able to focus on our exceptional school community and recall their place as part of a national and indeed international community.

Knowing that Blessed Edmund Rice was grounded in service, his Feast Day is a welcome opportunity for all of us to recall our purpose. Serving others is both selfless and life-giving, and we hope for countercultural young people and graduates who know their innate value and its worth to others. Amidst a world where selfishness and personal outcomes are measures of success, we use the historical account of Blessed Edmund Rice to challenge self-fulfillment by way of contributing to something greater than ourselves: community.

Reviewing Practice for Continuous Improvement

As previously communicated, St Paul’s College is currently undertaking a review of its Middle Years Program in Years 7-9, which currently hosts structures driven by integrating subjects and a focus on Project-Based-Learning. This approach to Middle Years has been an exceptional aspect of student-experience since its advent in 2019, when Year 7 moved from Primary Years to Secondary.

Like all components of our college, a commitment to continually improve requires review processes to ensure that practices are delivering the most meaningful experiences for students and the highest outcomes possible. St Paul’s constantly strives for our young people and given that the college has now delivered a cycle of students (our current year 12 cohort were the first group of Year 7 students to undertake the Middle Years Program in 2019), noting that the educational landscape is ever-changing, and recognising that students have changed in profile and grown in number since 2019, provide motivation to review our unique approach to middle years education.

In coming weeks, students and families and staff alike, will be asked to provide feedback as part of the Middle Years Review. This input is crucial and so families are urged to complete the 5 minute survey when it is provided. For our community’s knowledge and transparence, the review seeks to identify what is best for our students, as related to the following measures:

• Student experience
• Orientation to Secondary (high school)
• Student learning outcomes
• Student wellbeing outcomes
• Readiness for success in Senior Years
• ERICA (the college’s Learning Principles: Engaging, Relevant, Innovative, Creative, Authentic) and the college’s strategic directions
• Developments in education (landscape) and external contexts (EREA, CESA, Government Bodies, Research)
• Teacher administration (teacher efficacy, workload, capability, effectiveness, documentation)
• Meeting the requirements of the Australian Curriculum

Please keep your eyes-peeled for the parent survey, with thanks in advance for contributing to this important component of the review process.

*Photo - Mr Foulis recognising Walter Chatindiara on 10 years of service

Mr Paul Belton, Principal is proud to announce St Paul's College is an official partner of the Adelaide 36ers and is an official High Performance Academy school.

“Basketball is an extremely popular sport at St Paul’s College.  Through access to the 36ers club’s resources and knowledge throughout the year, this partnership will deliver outstanding opportunities to our students to develop in the sport.” Mr Belton said

The College will benefit from exclusive access to coaches, training sessions, coach education, leadership engagements, match day experiences and clinics.